Dreadlock Rasta

“Buffalo Soldier” is one of Bob Marley’s most popular songs; no border can contain it. There are almost certainly gauchos in the lowlands of Bolivia singing, “Woy yoy yoy, woy yoy-yoy yoy,” at this very moment. But despite the music’s Jamaican rhythms, the song was written in Miami — Hialeah to be exact, in the smoky upstairs studio of disco kingpin Henry Stone’s TK Productions. Marley co-wrote the tune with Noel “King Sporty” Williams, a Jamaican living in the 305. It is one of the Tuff Gong’s many connections to South Florida, and the latest is “Bob Marley: Messenger” at HistoryMiami (101 W. Flagler St., Miami), a special exhibition curated by the Grammy Museum featuring artifacts from the Marley family’s private collection. Bob’s guitar, his Bible, and his handwritten set lists join concert tickets, posters, and other souvenirs in a one-of-a-kind show. There’s even a special video featuring interviews with the Miami nurses who watched over the natty dread as he lay dying in the heart of Babylon. To top it all off, there’s an interactive drum element that will have you banging beats like a Nyabinghi in no time.
Oct. 10-Nov. 30, 7 p.m., 2013